The invention relates generally to collectible trading cards, such as baseball trading cards and, more particularly, to trading cards made of metal. As employed herein, the term "trading card" is intended to refer broadly to any such card-like object having information printed on either or both sides, whether it is in fact used for collection and trading purposes, merely collected, or otherwise.
Traditionally, such collectible trading cards have been made of thin cardboard, with a photograph on one side, and information printed on the other side.
Recently, for permanency and enhancement of appearance, it has been proposed to make such cards of lithographed sheet metal, for example as is disclosed in Miller U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,792. However, one disadvantage of such metal trading cards is that it is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve on sheet metal the quality of printing which can be achieved on other sheet materials, particularly paper-based sheet materials.
Another disadvantage, recognized in the above-referenced Miller patent, is that a raw piece of sheet metal contains sharp edges and corners which would make such a piece unsafe for use as a trading card. In view of this, Miller proposes a construction wherein the edges are folded to form flat hems presenting radiused surfaces at least on the outer edges of the card, leaving unfolded edges only at the corners, which unfolded edges are short in length.